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PhD scholarship: Understanding the implications of temporal dynamics of Protected Area boundaries and designations for Protected Area-based biodiversity indicators (ESR11)

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of
Science at University of Copenhagen is offering a PhD scholarship aimed at
understanding the implications of temporal dynamics of Protected Area
boundaries and designations for Protected Area-based biodiversity indicators.
The position will commence on 1 September 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Protected Area coverage is a key indicator
for measuring progress towards international policy commitments and is
calculated using information from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA).
Yet, Protected Areas (PAs) are not static elements in the landscape: they often
change in size and shape, management objectives, and the legislation that
regulates their level of protection might also change. Understanding the
dynamics of PA boundaries and designations – and of the drivers behind these
changes, and of their potential effects – is fundamental to develop robust
biodiversity indicators and predict future trends to guide policy decisions.
This project will build from and further strengthen the WDPA (>230,000
records, 225 countries/territories) by 1) consolidating and standardising
historical versions of the WDPA into a temporal database that reflects the
dynamic nature of PAs, and using this to develop and test a method for tracking
changes in PA coverage in a spatially-explicit way; 2) Assessing implications
of the dynamic nature of PAs to global measures of PA coverage and performance;
and 3) analysing political, economic and environmental factors explaining
variations in the dynamic of PAs across countries. The expected results will provide
better estimates of change in Protected Area coverage with time, with direct
applications to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 Aichi
Biodiversity Targets, Sustainable Development Goals and EU Biodiversity
Strategy, enhancement of the value of the WDPA as the key database for the
calculation of these indicators, and better understanding of the factors
driving PA dynamics across countries.

The position is available for a 3-year period and your
key tasks as a PhD student at SCIENCE are:

To manage
and carry through your research project and participate in network activities
under the Inspire4Nature project

Attend PhD courses

Write scientific articles and your PhD thesis

Teach and disseminate your research

To stay at WCMC, UK, during two secondments, a total of about 11 months

Eligibility

As part of the EU regulations related to Marie
Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks, the following eligibility
criteria apply:

At the
time of commencement of the PhD study, applicants must not have been awarded a
doctorate degree and must be within the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of
their research careers.

Applicants
must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.)
in Denmark for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their
recruitment.

Assessment
criteria

Applicants will be assessed on the basis
of the following criteria:

An MSc degree or equivalent of relevance to the advertised position
with good results

Good
English skills

Experience
with/knowledge of at least two of the following: (i) Geographical Information
Systems (GIS); (ii) quantitative data sets and statistical analysis and; (iii)
assessment of drivers of land use change

Experience
with/knowledge of Protected Area-based conservation

Terms of employment

The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job
Structure for Academic Staff.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to
the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation
of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

The starting salary is currently at a
minimum DKK 317,448 including annual supplement (+ pension up to DKK 43,848).
Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

Application Procedure

Please read and follow the instructions
for application in the Inspire4Nature website. The application, in
English, must then be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include:

Cover
Letter, detailing your
motivation and background for applying for this specific PhD project. Please
also indicate if you have applied for other Inspire4Nature PhD fellowships (if
yes, which)

The
Inspire4Nature joint application form, completed and signed. It can be downloaded
from here.

The University wishes our staff
to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications
from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

The deadline for applications is 16
April 2018, 23:59 GMT +2.

Only applications that are complete, in
English, that respect the instructions above and on the Inspire4Naturewebsite, and that
have been submitted before the deadline will be considered eligible.

Interviews of selected shortlisted
candidates will be held on 31 May 2018 between 12.00 and 18.00 GMT +2.

After the expiry of the
deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects
applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee. Afterwards an assessment committee will be appointed to evaluate
the selected applications. The applicants will be notified of the composition
of the committee and the final selection of a successful candidate will be made
by the Head of Department, based on the recommendations of the assessment
committee and the interview committee.

The main criterion for selection will be
the research potential of the applicant and the above mentioned skills. The
successful candidate will then be requested to formally apply for enrolment as
a PhD student at the PhD school of Science. You can read more
about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.